News About This Theater

St. Louis' beloved Tivoli Theatre features the finest in independent film and foreign language cinema. Architecturally and historically, the Tivoli Building is the most prominent edifice in the University City Loop area of St. Louis. It has a street frontage of 180 feet, is four-stories tall, houses seven specialty shops in addition to the theatre, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

On May 10, 1924, the ornate Tivoli Theatre opened to the public with a seating capacity of 1,440. The evening’s festivities included speeches by St. Louis Mayor Henry W. Kiel and University City Mayor Warren C. Flynn, a photoplay called “The Confidence Man”, music from the Jules Silberberg Orchestra, Art Lee Utt at the Kilgen Wonder Organ and five vaudeville acts. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch described the theatre as having ‘luxury and splendor eclipsing that of any other St. Louis theater’ and ‘the piece de resistance of glorified beauty’.

Through the years, the Tivoli Theatre went through numerous changes in ownership, suffered a long period of decline and closed in 1994. Joe and Linda Edwards, owners of the nearby Blueberry Hill, bought the building and theatre and began meticulously restoring the Tivoli Theater, bringing it back to its 1924 splendor.

After a renovation costing in excess of $2 million, the Tivoli Theater reopened on May 19, 1995 as a three-screen theater. Architects, designers and sightseers have toured the restored Tivoli Theater, marveling at the marquee, the 29-foot tall vertical sign, the newly-built box office, the vestibule with its terrazzo floor and ornate ceilings, the new seats, recessed ceiling domes, proscenium arch, side wall arches, stage, orchestra pit and lush burgundy curtain.

Elegant display cases have been filled with movie memorabilia including Marilyn Monroe, Little Rascals, Wizard of Oz and Marx Brothers dolls, a statue of Vincent Price and a plaster Maltese Falcon. Golden-age poster collages and original posters of St. Louis-related movies, actors and actresses line the corridors.

With the renovation complete, people could once again enjoy seeing great movies as they were filmed to be seen—on a big screen in an architecturally stunning setting.

When I went there from around 1980-85, they would have a printed program of all the films to be shown for the next few months. A typical weekend in U City would be: a bite to eat at Gyro’s Greek restaurant, see an oddball film at the Tivoli (for example “The Last Tango In Paris”), walk up to Blueberry Hill and hang out for a while, then down to the Varsity to experience “Rocky Horror” for the umpteenth time (and the Stooges too!) I was just at the Tivoli last week to watch a film I worked on for the 48 Hour Film Project. The Edwards have a great community spirit!

The one and only time I’ve ever seen “The Sound of Music” on the big screen, it was here! I also remember seeing a double feature of “Alien” & “The Man Who Fell To Earth” with my mom in the early 80’s. She covered my eyes through the majority of “TMWFTE” due to all the nude/love scenes.